I recently posted a link to Jeff Vanderstelt's blog to help convey the transformation that has taken place about how I (and Kimberly) see myself as a member in the body of Christ and a missionary on mission with Jesus. One of the terms in the title is incarnational. Of course the root word here is incarnation, which is a theological word for God becoming man. More specifically, the Son of God taking on human flesh. Fully God and fully man. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." God entered this world as a Jew and into the Jewish culture. He came and sought out sinners. He went to weddings and parties. He worked as a carpenter. He taught at synagogues. He understood the culture of His day and he taught using illustrations that Jews could understand. He didn't condemn the people with a poster saying, “the end is near.” Rather He made really good wine, healed lepers, cast out demons, made the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the dead to live again and he granted forgiveness of sins to repentant sinners. He didn't tell people what they wanted to hear, rather His teaching astonished the multitudes, silenced his opponents, shamed his accusers, enraged His country men and confused his disciples and transformed people to see that He is the Son of God and Savior of the world. Grace and truth entered this world and their culture in the person of Jesus. The King who didn't come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. Now, His body is called to go and make disciples and serve at the cost of their lives. I want to quote a story from the book Total Church that is a picture of what being incarnational looks like for our day as missionaries on mission with Jesus.

"Matt rang to ask what he should do. His friend George had asked him to go street preaching. Matt wasn't interested, but didn't know how to respond. So the three of us got together. As the conversation began, it was clear that George thought we were selling out in some way. But as we talked about sharing our lives with unbelievers, about evangelism that was 24/7, about opening our homes, George's tone changed. At the end of our conversation he admitted, 'I'm not sure if I'm up for that kind of commitment.'"